"I wear kilts," or "I wear the kilt." What do you say?

[andyfg]

Interesting comments. Here is a more full quote from Dame Iris:

"It was perfectly extraordinary seeing all those women wearing veils. And they wear their veils in so many different ways. Or should we say 'the veil" like one says 'the kilt'?"

From the context the speaker seems to take it for granted that the correct way to speak of kilts is "the kilt."

[McClef]

Context has to define usage.

It would not be correct to say "I have 24 of the kilt in my kollection" but it would be correct to say "I am a proud wearer of the kilt of which there are 24 in my kollection."

[Jock Scot]

Context has to define usage.

It would not be correct to say "I have 24 of the kilt in my kollection" but it would be correct to say "I am a proud wearer of the kilt of which there are 24 in my kollection."

I'd say that sounds about right. As would "I watched two Scottish regiments(I wish!) on parade today wearing their kilts".AS would "I watched two Scottish regiments(still wishing!)on parade today and they were wearing the kilt".

[andyfg]

Context has to define usage.

It would not be correct to say "I have 24 of the kilt in my kollection" but it would be correct to say "I am a proud wearer of the kilt of which there are 24 in my kollection."

That's quite helpful. Now . . . is there a general rule for contextual use?

[Jock Scot]

That's quite helpful. Now . . . is there a general rule for contextual use?

Oh crumbs!Now is the time for Jock to beat a hasty retreat.

[McClef]

That's quite helpful. Now . . . is there a general rule for contextual use?

I don't think I can quote contextual rules as such it's more instinct.

Take my rank - Grand Defender of the Kilt. I am defending the Kilt full stop but that defense could take the form of defending many kilts.

English is a strange language when it come to plurals and nouns in the singular can be used to stand for for more than one in certain situations.

And in others they just sound plain daft. When you are talking numerical plurals then s is the norm except when there is another plural word -ox, oxen for example or the famous singular and plural fish (though one can get away with fishes) or sheep which is never sheeps.

The phrase The Kilt is an individual abstract that can stand for the whole, the notion, the idea of Kilt, a representative of kiltdom. But when numerically counted (as in the numbers in one's kollection) then it should be pluralised with an s. Another example would be the Bible yet it would be Bibles when counting the number of them. Sometimes another word will carry the plural such as Books of Mormon, and in others a double plural is required - pounds of carrots.

We talk of exchange rates between the pound and the dollar yet we know this applies to every pound and every dollar. At the Bureau de Change we would then pluralise the amount we require to exchange however "a hundred pounds worth of dollars please."

So it's a question of experience and trying to apply logic more than anything else